Joe Major: A Jazz Shares season's greeting

Expression springs eternal in the Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares breast. This feisty little creative engine punches way above its weight in delivering next-level music performances to western Massachusetts. And just as in other disciplines where it’s not bragging if you can back it up, so too with Jazz Shares, where it’s not hyperbole if their concerts really can be transcendent.

Jazz Shares is a concert-presenting 501(c)3 non-profit whose members pre-pay affordable shares that provide enough capital resources, with minimal institutional support, for a season’s slate of concerts. Signifying healthy growing interest, the “season” has expanded recently from 10 to 20-plus dates. Mix full and half shares, and single tickets, to taste.

My Jazz Shares story began while randomly searching for reviewing opportunities midway through Season 4. A shaggy dog-length string of delightfully serendipitous events led to a connection for which I’ll always be grateful. Since that initial concert I’ve remained an über-devout attendee and, daresay, a willing emissary. On show nights, readying for my no-trek-too-far mission from Williamstown, I’m so stoked with anticipatory spark it feels like my gig! Approaching Season 13, I’d assure music pilgrims of any modal or tonal stripe, that they’re likely to discover surprisingly precious, embraceable hues.

Owing to co-founder and president Glenn Siegel’s curatorial prowess, the programs have been extraordinary: virtuoso players displaying redoubtable chops, who probe advanced visionary music-forward concepts, yet require of a listener nothing more baffling than to bathe in the splashes of sheer sensory reception. See for yourself at jazzshares.org.

Joe Major

Williamstown